Waves Captures Scary Radio Emission from Jupiter

Juno spacecraft's Waves captured a scary radio emission from Jupiter's aurora, when it traveled about 2,000 miles above the planet.

Until today, radio emission from Jupiter that scientists gathered since the 1950s were never analyzed from a close proximity. Science Daily reported that Bill Kurth, one of the researchers, said that Jupiter is talking to them the way gas-giant planets talk.

"Waves gathered the emission from auroras on the North Pole of Jupiter. The emission was the strongest emission on the solar system. We are currently figuring out where the electrons that are generating them come from," Kurth said.

He explained that in most of the space mission he's been involved, there's always a predetermined idea of what they would discover.

"We just need to discover the details. These details are puzzles that need to be pieced together. To better understand, we look at the physics behind it," he added.

Futurity reported that they want to find out how the ions accelerate in the magnetic field lines above Jupiter that collides with the atmosphere that creates the auroras. Waves will get samples of plasma waves along the magnetic field lines while it orbits around Jupiter.

He explained that plasma is charged through moving particles. The radio wave created by this plasma isn't audible and need to be downshifted to the audio range. These radio waves are then compressed to create a better audio.

The camera in Juno also captured a high-resolution photo of the atmosphere and photos of the north and south poles of Jupiter.

Juno spacecraft's last closest flyby on Jupiter was last August. It is set to have thirty-five more close flybys before it end its mission on February 2018.

The next measurement on Waves will happen on November 2. Kurth said that he and his colleagues are excited for next month's event.